DARREN Wrack was "very pleased" to come through his first senior game for 14 months unscathed after lining up in Walsall's win over Torquay.

DARREN Wrack was "very pleased" to come through his first senior game for 14 months unscathed after lining up in Walsall's win over Torquay.

And Wrack, back after suffering a broken leg at Yeovil in September 2005, pinpointed a crunching 50/50 tackle early in the match as a key psychological barrier cleared.

"The leg gave me no problem whatsoever," Wrack said. "And the best thing for me was to go into a 50/50 after 10 minutes.

"That's just what I needed - to get that out of the way. I was very pleased overall, especially with my work-rate. I felt better and stronger than I thought I would.

"I thought I would probably play 70 or 75 minutes but felt strong and was still running around at the end, which is a good sign. It shows how much progress I've made since coming back in the reserves."

Wrack, a Saddler through and through, was doubly delighted that he returned in a winning side.

"Torquay played well and did their homework on us," he said. "We weren't on top of our game but sometimes it's about grinding results out like that.

"Go back 12 months and we would have lost that game 1-0. It's a good mentality to have to grind out results when you are not playing that well. Three points puts us in pole position again."

Walsall's attention now turns to the FA Cup and a first-round visit to Macclesfield next Monday.

That gives Chris Westwood, whose sore calf caused his substitution at half-time on Saturday, two extra days to recover.